Ellis Beach

Things generally quieten down over the Christmas period, people go on holidays while cities and towns slow down to a pace not unlike that of a tired snail. Cairns is no different. Today the photographic diary resembled a starving horse and so it was left to the photographers on duty to head out and see what we could find. 

Carl Natton plays with his daughter Emily at Ellis Beach

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

The city was actually nearing 'dead', with only hand full of people here and there, aimlessly walking the streets or sitting at one of the few open cafes. I drove to Ellis Beach, about half an hour north of Cairns where I met Carlos, the lifeguard on duty. He said the beach had been pretty quiet today and that the early morning rush of people had vanished as the midday sun had started to pack some punch. Carlos and I spoke about the large box jelly fish that washed up yesterday at Trinity Beach and he told me that something like that had enough poison in it to kill eight fully grown adults.

Lifeguard Travis Simmonds holds up the large box jellyfish that washed up on Trinity Beach

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

Carlos got ready for his second sweep of the beach (a process of dragging a net in the enclosed swimming area to check for stingers) and I decided to get in the water and ask some people if I could photograph them relaxing in the water. I met Carl and his daughter Emily from Lake Placid who were playing in the shallows. "She thinks she is a better swimmer than she really is", Carl told me. With the aid of a floaty ring, Emily looked to be doing alright to me. 

Lifeguard Carlos Costa drags the swimming enclosure for stingers
©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

I turned my attention to Carlos who was going from end to end of the enclosure with his net. As he neared the northern end of the swimming area I turned to see a man lying face up, taking in the sun. The man's eyes were closed and I made a couple of pictures of him without him realising. I followed Carlos for a bit more and then turned to the floating man again and by this time he was standing up in the shallow water. I introduced myself and told him that I was just shooting pictures for the local newspaper. The man laughed and suggested I find someone better looking to photograph. I let him know that I already had a couple of pictures of him and that all I needed was his name, which he was happy to give me, introducing himself as Frank Roach from Canada.

Frank Roach (a tourist from Canada) relaxing at Ellis Beach

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

I swaggered back to the beach, forever mindful that I was carrying a five thousand dollar camera NOT in a water housing. I packed up my camera bag and, dripping wet, sans towel nor quick drying shorts, made my way back across the Captain Cook Highway to my car.

The Good Samaritan Ministry Centre

Cairns' Good Samaritan Ministry Centre closed yesterday, with residents being forced to move out of their units due to the accommodation centre not meeting fire safety regulations. The twenty-five residents of the crisis accommodation centre in Gatton Street were moved to temporary housing in a motel on Sheridan Street in Cairns North.

Reverend Fihaki removes furniture from the Good Samaritan Ministry Centre

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

Last week I posted about Lindus Bearnard, a resident of the Ministry Centre, who was to leave her unit after being there for nine months. In an update to that post, it turns out that Lindus has again been moved to temporary accommodation, not a permanent residence as I was told.

Uniting Church worker Taufa Fotu wipes sweat from her brow whilst cleaning an apartment at the centre.

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

Reverend Hedley Fihaki was busy moving furniture with Uniting Church workers yesterday when we went to interview him at the centre. While he is disappointed at the decision to close the centre, Reverand Fihaki is pleased that most of the residents will be able to spend Christmas together in their new temporary housing on Sheridan Street.

Reverend Fihaki remains optimistic the centre will reopen.

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

1000 km's for Eighty Minutes of Football

Every year students from Djarragun College travel 1000km in a convoy of four wheel drives on dirt road, to compete in an AFL competition in Bamaga, Cape York. The competition is part of an education program aimed to promote healthy, active living in Indigenous communities.

©Chris Hyde/The Cairns Post

The return journey from Cairns to Bamaga takes four days, where the Djarragun team played two, forty minute games; One thousand kilometres for eighty mins of football.

©Chris Hyde/The Cairns Post

This year Cairns Post photographer Chris Hyde went along to photograph the action.

"It is a bloody long way but  its worth it. The actual journey is half the fun", says Chris.

©Chris Hyde/The Cairns Post

©Chris Hyde/The Cairns Post

Kangaroo at the Greyhounds

"In all my time, I've never seen one come so close!". These were the words of a seventy year old greyhound race goer, told to photographer Chris Hyde, after he made this striking image of a kangaroo jumping on to the track during a race at the Woree greyhound track.

©Chris Hyde/The Cairns Post

"I was waiting for the dogs to come around the last bend, when a kangaroo jumped across the track, only seconds before the dogs came into view. The dogs were about one hundred metres away when this fella jumped on to the track."

Lindus Bernard

Lindus Bernard is seventy years old, she is from Kowinyama in Cape York. Lindus moved to Cairns to receive treatment for cancer and after some time she became homeless, living in camps around Cairns.

For the last nine months Lindus has been living at the Good Samaritan Ministry Centre, which is run by Reverend Hedley Fihaki. Twenty-six residents receive temporary accommodation at the centre, which aims to relocate people to permanent places of residence.

Lindus Bearnard in her unit at the Good Samaritan Ministry Centre.

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

The Good Samaritan Ministry Centre recently received notice that its complex would be shut down due to a lack of fire safety regulations, leaving people homeless and destitute just a week before Christmas.

Reverend Hedley Fihaki refused to close the centre, and on the final day that residents were permitted to remain there, he held a barbeque in protest of the order.

I was introduced to Lindus by Anne-Marie, a social worker who cares for Lindus and many other homeless Indigenous people living in the Cairns area. Lindus agreed to be photographed, as well as interviewed by The Cairns Post journalist Stephanie Harrington. While we were there, Lindus received news that permanent accommodation had been found for her, however she said she would be sad to leave the The Good Samaritan Ministry Centre, a place that she now called home.

Peter Dejong

Peter Dejong at the Young Lifestyle Care home, a respite centre at Gordonvale, with his father Andy and mother Emma.

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

In December 2008, Cairns youth Peter Dejong attempted suicide. Peter spent six months in the Intensive Care Unit at Cairns Base Hospital, where he remained in a vegetative state. After six months at Cairns Base, Peter was transferred to the Young Lifestyle Care Home in Gordonvale, south of Cairns. Peter is slowly showing signs of progress after his attempted suicide, however his family accepts that there is a long period ahead of great pain and struggle for Peter, as well as for them. 


Peter is now able to communicate some of his emotions and feelings through mouth and eye movements, something that he could not do even a few months ago.


When Peter's friends come to visit, he gets upset say his mother Emma, 'Tears stream down his face. He doesn't want them seeing him like this.'


Kids Helpline for people under 18 years: 1800 55 1800

Salvo Care Line: 1300 363 622
Lifeline: 131 114
Beyondblue – www.youthbeyondblue.com
Infoline 1300 224 636

Cook Island singers

Christmas is just around the corner, and communities all across Cairns are coming together for their own local Carols by Candlelight evenings. My first Carols assignment was in the beach side suburb of Yorkeys Knob, a fifteen minute drive north of Cairns. I arrived before dark, so there wasn't much candle action happening. I walked around and just looked for pictures. 

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

The emcee announced a Cook islands Church group were to perform some traditional songs as well as some carols. They were amazing! The lead singer, a woman with an absolutely amazing voice, took my breath away, her voice carrying throughout the entire park (and surrounding streets, I'm sure) with amazing strength and pitch. The group sung two or three wonderful Island songs in what was a hair-standing-on-end type of moment. 

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

Their voices and vocal delivery made my night.

Narayan Mishra

Narayan (l), his father Laxmi and sister Priya at their home in Westcourt.

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

Narayan Mishra and his family arrived in Cairns on December 4, 2008, after spending fifteen years in refugee camps in Nepal and Bhutan. An assertive and confident seventeen year old, Narayan openly talks about the hardships he and his family faced as they were rejected by the Nepalese and Bhutan Governments. "My family has lived in Bhutan for generations. We have spent more than one hundred and fifty years there, but the governments rejects us."

Narayan (l) and his father Laxmi at their home in Westcourt.

©Sean Davey/The Cairns Post

Narayan is participating at The Tanks Arts Centre on Sunday December 6 as part of Human Rights Day. Narayan will be speaking about his life story, as will other refugees, between 10am and 3pm.